I was thinking of something Jack Gilbert used to say about certain failed poems. He used the analogy of a dead cat. You can brush it and make it presentable; but it's still a dead cat.
Some things can't be improved because they are perfect in their ordinariness or complete in their inertness.
Ive met a few of those dead cat poems, and truly, every word is perfect; perfectly phrased, perfectly expressed, perfectly written. Perfectly dull. I call 'em personal poems and put them on the bottom of the stack.
It's said Duncan never revised his poetry. Too bad. There was a lot of potential there.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of something Jack Gilbert used to say about certain failed poems. He used the analogy of a dead cat. You can brush it and make it presentable; but it's still a dead cat.
ReplyDeleteSome things can't be improved because they are perfect in their ordinariness or complete in their inertness.
A "pièce de résistance"!
ReplyDeleteIve met a few of those dead cat poems, and truly, every word is perfect; perfectly phrased, perfectly expressed, perfectly written. Perfectly dull. I call 'em personal poems and put them on the bottom of the stack.
ReplyDelete